Stories

East Ramapo(Approximately 45-50 minutes)

The East Ramapo School District is a dynamic collision of race, religion, economics and politics. Approximately 20,000 of the District’s 29,000 students attend private schools. Almost all of them come from ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish families. The 9,000 public school students are predominantly African-American, Hispanic-American and immigrants. Seven of the nine members of the School Board are ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic men. Ongoing disputes between the interests of public and private school communities have caused the Chief of Police of Spring Valley, New York (where the District is located) to warn of “an impending crisis of public safety.”

The play is a series of monologues and conversations of individuals directly affected by the situation in the District. These include high school students from both public and private schools, administrators and community activists. Several of the actors perform in their own voices. The play was featured in an article in “The Wall Street Journal” (4/25/14).

The King of Denmark Comes to Billings(can be adapted from 35 – 55 minutes)

Thousands of people in Billings, Montana courageously responded to hate crimes and incidents committed against their neighbors. In December of 1993, skinheads and neo-Nazis attempted to terrorize and intimidate Native Americans, African Americans and Jews living in Billings. With every hate-filled act, people stood up to the haters, defending their neighbors. House painters repainted the home of Dawn Fast Horse which had been spray painted with swastikas and the words “Die Indian!” White people attended the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church after skinheads entered during a Sunday service in an attempt to intimidate its African-American parishioners. 6,000 homeowners placed menorahs in their windows after a brick was thrown through the bedroom window where Isaac Schnitzer, a young Jewish boy, had placed a menorah. The Chief of Police and the editor of the newspaper acted quickly to encourage the town to take a stand against the hatemongers. And they did.

“The King of Denmark Comes to Billings” can be presented as a residency where Mark will direct students and/or community members to perform a reading (contact Mark for details) or as a one-man play. _The Open Window (approximately 25 minutes / accompanied by a cellist)

On May 27, 1992, Vedran Smailovic, Principal Cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, witnesses the murder of 22 starving people standing in a Sarajevo bread line. For the next 22 days, Vedran plays a concert in the bomb crater where the 22 died.

In the Lions' Den (approximately 60 minutes, accompanied by a violinist and pianist)

In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Daniel Pearl, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Pakistan while researching a dangerously revealing story. In the Lions’ Den is Danny’s story in his voice. He tells us about the events leading up to his kidnapping, his beloved wife, unborn son, commitment to truth and love for music. We learn his life story that led him to enter into the lions' den.

A Stranger Is Someone Whose Story I Do Not Know (approximately 40 minutes)

At the age of 16, as a commander of Hitler Youth, Alfons Heck leads his children soldiers in combat. Helen Wohlfarth survives Auschwitz . In 1980, they begin telling their stories together and continue for 10 years until Helen's passing.

In the week following the attack on the World Trade Center , a man plays the trumpet behind police barricades near Ground Zero. A photographer sees the trumpeter but is unable to snap the shutter of his camera. A staff photographer for The Daily News stands next to the first photographer and admits that he and others are unable to take a photograph of the trumpeter because, "We think he's an angel."

My Music Will Survive: The Story of Viktor Ullmann(approximately 40 minutes / may be accompanied by live music)

Viktor Ullmann uniquely survives the nightmare of imprisonment in Terezenstadt, a Nazi concentration camp, he composes music. In this brutal place, Viktor hides much of his compositions. Viktor dies at the hands of his captors but his music is recovered and is being performed today.

Three Strings(approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by a violinist)

One of the four strings on Yitzchak Perlman's violin breaks during a performance. He completes the concert on the violin with three strings.

The Origin of Music and Poetry(approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by musician(s)playing violin, balophone, flute, recorder and didgeridoo)

The world is a place of stony, sullen silence until a mysterious, powerful song leaves her home in the heavens to visit the four corners of the earth. With her arrival, people's lives are changed forever.

The First Hunter: Our Search for Meaning (approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by musician(s) playing balophone and didgeridoo / told primarily in English but sprinkled liberally with Sangho, a language spoken in Central Africa)

When the first hunter catches a glimpse of the reflection of a great white bird, he is seized by the need to see the bird itself. He leaves his village and searches throughout Africa to find it.

The King of Denmark Comes to Billings(can be adapted from 35 – 55 minutes)

Thousands of people in Billings, Montana courageously responded to hate crimes and incidents committed against their neighbors. In December of 1993, skinheads and neo-Nazis attempted to terrorize and intimidate Native Americans, African Americans and Jews living in Billings. With every hate-filled act, people stood up to the haters, defending their neighbors. House painters repainted the home of Dawn Fast Horse which had been spray painted with swastikas and the words “Die Indian!” White people attended the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church after skinheads entered during a Sunday service in an attempt to intimidate its African-American parishioners. 6,000 homeowners placed menorahs in their windows after a brick was thrown through the bedroom window where Isaac Schnitzer, a young Jewish boy, had placed a menorah. The Chief of Police and the editor of the newspaper acted quickly to encourage the town to take a stand against the hatemongers. And they did.

“The King of Denmark Comes to Billings” can be presented as a residency where Mark will direct students and/or community members to perform a reading (contact Mark for details) or as a one-man play.

The Open Window (approximately 25 minutes / accompanied by a cellist)

On May 27, 1992, Vedran Smailovic, Principal Cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, witnesses the murder of 22 starving people standing in a Sarajevo bread line. For the next 22 days, Vedran plays a concert in the bomb crater where the 22 died.

In the Lions' Den(approximately 60 minutes, accompanied by a violinist and pianist)

In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Daniel Pearl, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Pakistan while researching a dangerously revealing story. In the Lions’ Den is Danny’s story in his voice. He tells us about the events leading up to his kidnapping, his beloved wife, unborn son, commitment to truth and love for music. We learn his life story that led him to enter into the lions' den.

A Stranger Is Someone Whose Story I Do Not Know (approximately 40 minutes)

At the age of 16, as a commander of Hitler Youth, Alfons Heck leads his children soldiers in combat. Helen Wohlfarth survives Auschwitz . In 1980, they begin telling their stories together and continue for 10 years until Helen's passing.

In the week following the attack on the World Trade Center , a man plays the trumpet behind police barricades near Ground Zero. A photographer sees the trumpeter but is unable to snap the shutter of his camera. A staff photographer for The Daily News stands next to the first photographer and admits that he and others are unable to take a photograph of the trumpeter because, "We think he's an angel."

My Music Will Survive: The Story of Viktor Ullmann (approximately 40 minutes / may be accompanied by live music)

Viktor Ullmann uniquely survives the nightmare of imprisonment in Terezenstadt, a Nazi concentration camp, he composes music. In this brutal place, Viktor hides much of his compositions. Viktor dies at the hands of his captors but his music is recovered and is being performed today.

Three Strings (approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by a violinist)

One of the four strings on Yitzchak Perlman's violin breaks during a performance. He completes the concert on the violin with three strings.

The Origin of Music and Poetry (approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by musician(s)playing violin, balophone, flute, recorder and didgeridoo)

The world is a place of stony, sullen silence until a mysterious, powerful song leaves her home in the heavens to visit the four corners of the earth. With her arrival, people's lives are changed forever.

The First Hunter: Our Search for Meaning (approximately 10 minutes / accompanied by musician(s) playing balophone and didgeridoo / told primarily in English but sprinkled liberally with Sangho, a language spoken in Central Africa)

When the first hunter catches a glimpse of the reflection of a great white bird, he is seized by the need to see the bird itself. He leaves his village and searches throughout Africa to find it.